Vodka - good for removing gren hair algae?

[castiger]

Troubled by green hair algae again. Been reading vodka dosing threads and wondered if vodka dosing would help with green hair algae:icon_confused:
Nitrates up at 50ppm currently, but phosphates low at 0.1.
Dreaded aptaisia making an unwelcome comeback currently:icon_evil:
Interested in thoughts and experiences:icon_wink:

[cl0wn]

IIRC there was a very good thread on reefcentral about raising mag levels to help get rid of the foul stuff. will have a look for you. never dosed vodka so couldn't comment on that.

[cl0wn]

38 pages long but a very interesting read. can't remember it in detail but give it a good read before dumping the mag in as it will affect your other params.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/printthread.php?threadid=1113109

[castiger]

Thanks - good job it's the holidays soon:icon_wink:

[michael.]

i have been dosing vodka for several weeks, i started with 0.8 mil, although id suggest 0.2 if your new to it and at present im at 2.2 mil, so far all params are stable and no corals have shown any signs of distress, my phos is still evident but trates are 0, im unsure as to the long term value of vodka but im giving it a go anyhow

[Tangman]

IIRC there was a very good thread on reefcentral about raising mag levels to help get rid of the foul stuff. will have a look for you. never dosed vodka so couldn't comment on that.
Hi ast year imisunderstood MRTEEE about dosing Sodium Bicarbonate to raise Alk and took it up to 20 PPM and all my aiptasia went and the corals softies were ok so were the fish. So it might be worth a try if you have a load of Aiptasias. HTH Twiggy:icon_razz:

[Jwtech]

Hi ast year imisunderstood MRTEEE about dosing Sodium Bicarbonate to raise Alk and took it up to 20 PPM and all my aiptasia went and the corals softies were ok so were the fish. So it might be worth a try if you have a load of Aiptasias. HTH Twiggy:icon_razz:

intressing , will keep this in mind!

I did try the vodka method when i had hi nitrate but i cried every time i dosed the tank with vodka as they fish where getting more than me lol. i tried it for a while seem to work / hide the problem, i believe vodka does help, at the end of the day you need to deal with whats causing the nitrate first and then deal with the nitrate second, its pointless treating a problem if u do not stop the souce of it!!

[mad pierre]

Hi ast year imisunderstood MRTEEE about dosing Sodium Bicarbonate to raise Alk and took it up to 20 PPM and all my aiptasia went and the corals softies were ok so were the fish. So it might be worth a try if you have a load of Aiptasias. HTH Twiggy:icon_razz:

Hi Eric. ive noticed a few Aips appearing in my tank but i'm lothe to disturb anything as its the longest ive gone without loosing any fish (touch wood). How did you dose the bicarbonate and what were you using to measure the levels?

Also did you have any ordinary nems in there at the time? I have a BTA which my wife is partial to, and killing it off would not be good for my health:icon_sad:

Cheers

Peter

[andyprice]

if you read back a few months ago, i tried vodka dosing,it has worked for me.though as some people say they saw significant changes in a few weeks,i question that to be honest,it was 6 to 7 weeks before i saw any dramatic change.i was up to over 10ml a day at the end,i managed to get it down to a very reasonable 15ppm, which as my tank is softie 99% based is fine.softies thrive on a little muck so to speak.problem was i inherited water from a tank that was off the scale with nitrates.and the problem doesnt stop there either because the live rock if full of nitrate as well.so just as the water starts to sort itself the rock starts leaching it out.but i am aware it doesnt work for everybody though.i still carried on normal water changes.:icon_wink:

[Guest]

i started monday this week im going to give it some time and see how it goes:icon_razz:

[Tangman]

Hi Eric. ive noticed a few Aips appearing in my tank but i'm lothe to disturb anything as its the longest ive gone without loosing any fish (touch wood). How did you dose the bicarbonate and what were you using to measure the levels?

Also did you have any ordinary nems in there at the time? I have a BTA which my wife is partial to, and killing it off would not be good for my health:icon_sad:

Cheers

Peter
Hi Peter i would say that a nem would die doing this, also i cant say that any tender corals would be safe. The ideal case would be to have just the rock in a tank then do it which would not do any harm to anything, you could then raise it up slowly and test to see where it is and if the aips are dieing. I used a drip method and dripped in 2 litre of mix per night. It would be a case of try it and see but dont blame me if it goes Pete Tong. HTH Twiggy:icon_razz::icon_razz:

[michael.]

this thread is useful guys

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-08/nftt/index.php

[VP Clown]

Troubled by green hair algae again. Been reading vodka dosing threads and wondered if vodka dosing would help with green hair algae:icon_confused:
Nitrates up at 50ppm currently, but phosphates low at 0.1.
Dreaded aptaisia making an unwelcome comeback currently:icon_evil:
Interested in thoughts and experiences:icon_wink:

Just an asside to the vodka issue, the OP was discussing green algae but I didn't think phosphates were classed as low at 0.1, I thought they should by less than 0.03. Surely this would be need to be bought down. Or does vodka also lower phosphate??
HTH
Andy

[Tangman]

this thread is useful guys

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-08/nftt/index.php
Hi Mike good article, the main thing looks like overdosing and lowering the o2 as they suggest running Ozone to replace o2. It might be worth keeping this for future reference. Twiggy:icon_razz:

[L1NDON]

I had lots of hair algae, and used Vodka dosing (took several weeks - 8 or more) to bring my Nitrates down. It also brought the Phosphates down to 0 for the first time ever (even using ultiphos never did). The hair algae started to loose its colour and looked like it was on its way out.

However, i went away to Australia for several weeks, left my tank with someone else and the hair algae was back (phosphates had crept up)

I now have 0 phosphates again -

So my experience is that it could help, but as everyone always says, you have to find out whats producing the various chemicals that are causing the Algae

[angel1]

from what i have read and seen its only good for phospahates if theres a degree of nitrate in the water, it wont work on just phospahate, know mike had a serious phophate problem caused by bad supplied water, vodka cured that and he is still using a background dose bi weekly, the one problem getting it all to 0 is that some corals use nitrate and phosphate in small amounts as food, xenia for instance grows better in a `slightly polluted` tank as do a lot of lps

[MarineManMercer]

I have dosed vodka in the past at a rate of 1ml to every 100 litres tho gradually worked up and a little beyond that.My nitrates went from 30ppm to 2ppm in a matter of weeks.Personally feel its only a quick fix and its alot better to find out why your parimeters are out.In the end i stopped using it and added more flow,cut down feeding,Didnt overstock,kept to my water changes and made sure my RO readings are at 0ppm by adding a di resin.Yes they did gradually climb to 25ppm but not past that.I would rather them at what they are at now than be adding chemicals long term so my thoughts is find out the problem rather than patch it up.Just my opinion tho.

Trevor

[Chris C]

IMO vodka is only good for one thing and thats drinking, your phos reading of 0.1 isnt low enough Phil, try to get it down even more as already mentioned 0.03 isnt to bad, im about there but never reached true 0 yet.
I think with a lower phos you hair algea will dry off,failing that get something off Macca that will help get rid of it, as for the aips get the lemon out again.

Chris